Gazza

Yeah, I was thinking a new train with suspension could be good, but i was unsure if it would be allowed, but yes, keep the scenic railway. I was actually unsure of the location of the rotor and the river caves, so I put them where they fitted best. BTW, with the streetfighter, the park model is actually called "the typhoon" and it actualy looks really good, here is a pic, it does not at all look tacky: http://www.technicalpark.com/Major/Typhoon.htm

Ok, good feedback guys. I might replace the inverter with just a single sided ranger type ride (Eg Zamperla Hawk). Another possibility is a Technical Park Street fighter park model. Technical park actually make 24 seat version with outward facing seats, and from memory it was about 20x15m so it is pretty space efficient. As for the Zig Zag Coaster, well, space is limited and I wanted a family sort of coaster in there, and that seemed like a good choice because of its small footprint. It is actually fairly similar in size to the mad mouse at Rye/LPS/Aussie World and that ride seems popular enough, coupled with the spinning motion and the high up perch, it could be fun. Or prehaps Maurer sohne could custom make a ride of the same footprint, but with a steeper lift so the ride has steeper gradients throughout the layout and higher speed. It would be cool to have a triple lap coaster, but the ride is heratiage listed so demolition is out of the question. And anyway, the ride is fun, even if its rough. I might somehow put foward my plan if the park is sold and they plan to redevelop. I want some real constructive criticism on this so I can make a better v2.0 Also, here is an attachment for the track layout of the big dipper (NoLimits).

I actually emailed the park and they sent me the map in pdf. I was expecting a cartoon type map, but actually got a very good plan that looked pretty accurate. It even had the loactions of fire reels and coolrooms so I didn't doubt its accuracy.

Here is my Idea for an improved version of LPM. I retained all the heratiage listed rides. I used a park plan to get the exact locations of things, right down to the toilets located under the Scenic Railway. The whole park would be facelifted to get rid of the tacky look it has now and many rides would be replaced. The rides that would be removed include Oddesy AX1, G force, Pharos Curse, Metropolis, Shock Drop, Twin Dragon, Spider, Arabian Merry and the Enteprise. The new improved attraction lineup would be: 1) The Zig Zag, A maurer sohne compact spinning coaster http://www.rcdb.com/ig1551.htm?picture=9 this would be built on top of: 2) The New River caves, an indoor boat ride built just like the old one. 3)The Carousel, a classic. 4)The Ghost Train, also a classic with some refurbishment, eg painting. 5)The Twirler, A Zamperla disk'o', a good family ride, it would be red and white in colour 6)The Red Baron, relocated from across the park 7)High Flyer, a zamperla Samba Tower, a lookout point for the rest of the park. 8)Magic Dragon, the silly serpent left in its existing location, with new gardens and hedges planted around it. 9)Inverter, a chance inverter. This would be a good thrill ride 10)Scenic Railway, left just the way it is. 11)Rotor, built in the dodgems building would be the revival of an old classic. However, the ride equipment would be new. 12)Dodgems, in the present location 13)Sky Rocket, a huss Shot'n'Drop. A small footprint ride that would offer good veiws of port phillip and the rest of the park it would be surrounded by the top hat of: 14) Big Dipper, A compact intamin Accelerator built where Metropolis is, as well as along the eastern side of the park behind the dodgems building. The ride would lauch out of the station behind the dodgems building toward the beach, before entering an inside top hat. After the top hat would be an Imellmann. This would lead into an airtime hill, a vertical loop and and overbanked turn into the brakes. The park would be no more cramped than it is now, and any empty spaces in the park would become "green wedges" to give the park a bit of relaxing plant life. I already have some ideas for an improved version which I will work on during the holidays. I will try to do it in full colour and with some shuffling around of the rides (after I designed it, i thought of other arrangments that would have used the space better. Here is the file, my apoligies for the image quality. Comments??

In the brakes, isnt there a platform where you can get off though?

My Bad , looking at pics of the ride I thought that it was an old ride.

Im with you on that one huss. The thing with LPS is that at least it has plenty of nice old attractions to balance it out such as Coney Island, Tango Train, Rotor, Carousel, The Wild Mouse etc. But at LPM all there is just the Carousel, The scenic railway and a poorly maintained ghost train in terms of historic rides, the rest is just rather cheap filler. Yeah, i suppose rainbow would do ok, but probably not much better than what is already there since your average person would just think of it as "just another ride".

I dont know about a ferris wheel, It would either have to be a really big observation wheel or a "coaster wheel" like the one at DCA for it to draw people. The 4D concept isnt entirley dead, they could always just build an Intamin Ball coaster. But in terms of a coaster, id like to see a floorless or an inverted coaster. I would like a flyer, but their capacity and reliability is questionable. BTW on the topic of flyers, one is being built in China: http://www.rcdb.com/ig3141.htm?picture=1

Yeah, they lack atmosphere a bit. Another thing is that there is no plant life at all in the park, which makes it less inviting. All it is now is basically a ashphalt carpark with carnie rides set up. IMO the parks only redeeming factors is the scenic railway, carousel, Mr Moon and to a lesser extent the ghost train. Everthing else I would happily see removed. Just wondering too, does anyone know where I could find a plan/map of LPM.

Yeah, i think that Rainbow would be a step backward. The park is already full of carnie rides, it needs to move away from that if they want to stay afloat.

I have gotten that inspirational spark again and I am now in the process of doing a scale design for an improved luna park. Ill post it soon.

Yeah, I know, I know. But the are going to have to do something if they want the park to remain popular. Still, i dont think they are too limited in what they can do. They have gotten away with simulators and UFOs and they arent exactly very historical.

Well, the park is now for sale, so hopefully the new owners will do something good with it.

"It" Being??? Personally, this is what I think they should do. First of all, get rid of all the parks current rides except for the carousel, the scenic raliway and the house of horros because they are heratiage listed. So basically the whole park is a clear site. Next they should replace all the removed attractions with newer ones that sit nicley with the park. Have a look at DCA and paradise pier, it tries to achive the same thing by doing a sort of old style plesure pier, but with some newer rides in there too. They should bring back the rotor, fun house and the river caves, but do em all nice. Prehaps the river caves could have a drop at the end. The rest of the park would be a few flat rides (Park Model) A kids roller coaster, a spinning mouse coaster to replace metropolis and kids flat rides. All the rides would be given a 1930s feel with the use of nice facades, lights and signage in the style of that era. In terms of thrill rides. I was thinking along the lines of a space shot type ride. For a thrilling coaster, a possibility could be an accelerator, since it could be made fairly compact, and be of a similar style to california screamin' as a tribute to twister style woodies.

yeah, i saw that, things aint going well down at the LPM camp.

Yeah, I saw that Its a pretty bit article but its just a bunch of opinions of what various buisnessmen would like to see happen with the park.

I didnt really see anthing that looked like galleons but I think it is safe to say now that these rides are the ones from WL. The rides have been there for a month or so now, but the reason I havent posted sooner is because the first time I went past in the car I wasnt quite sure if it was actually a ride at all since it could have been something else (like umbrellas for example) the next two times I went past i was actually reading the paper in the car and forgot to look, but 2 days ago I looked properly and it did look like a ride, so subsequently I went for a closer look. I wouldnt hold your breath for much to happen at the site anytime soon, The waterslide has being sitting unassembled for a few years, and if that is anything to go by then we could be waiting a long time. The Wwebsite of the place is http://www.emeraldbankfarm.com.au/

Ok, so this is what I got, the photo is really bad since is was taken by a camera that about 5 years old, so my apoligies for that. I was also as close as I could get since there was a lake seperating me from the site. The photo was taken from the grounds of the motor inn (with the owners permission of course) Anyway, this is what i could see. -several domes painted in stripes. the stripes alternated between white and another colour including pink, red and blue. Each dome had its own color. -Dark Green/Khaki Green coloured "baskets" for the baloons, they were lying on their side and had brown seats inside that were the width of the basket that faced each other. Each basket had four poles coming out of it, presumably this is what connected the basket to the balloon -A large yellow piece of machinery, that looked like a motor for the ride -Several yellow metal poles lying on the ground -Several "quater domes", imagine you got an orange, and quatered it, then got rid of the edible part, so you would end up with eight, 3 sided shapes that are cuved. There were similar shapes to this stacked up, each one was painted half in white, and half in another colour such as green, blue or red. -Two small aeroplanes I could see, one was painted red and the other dark blue. -A central tower for the airplane ride, it was a dark grey bluish sort of colour, it looked a bit worse for wear. -Various other metal poles. -Waterslide segments, light blue in colour. I have sent the Heratiage farm an email regarding the ride, so that may help shed some light on this. The Photo: To the right you can see the domes. In virtually the centre of the photo you can see a bit of red, this is one of the aeroplanes to the left of this you can see the yellow piece of machinery The other stuff such as the airplane ride tower and the "quater domes" were on the left side but is too hard to see them in this photo.

Ill see what I can do, My digital camera is really, really bad. But I might go over there since its not too far away.

When I was in the car going out of town today I spotted what appeared to be a ride in several bits at a place called the "Emarald Bank Heratiage farm", a tourist complex in my town. The site where the ride parts were was surrounded by a temporary fence, and I could see many dome type things that were painted in stripes of white with another color. I could also see a large yellow piece of machinery, which could be the rides central axis thingy. Could this ride be the Great balloon race from wonderland? Does anyone know who bought the Balloon race from WL? If anyone can provide info it would be great. Also, the site where the ride is now has a few waterslide sections there too. These were from a waterslide that was previously at the local aquatic centre, and about 5 years ago the slide was dismantled was moved to the heratiage farm site near the entrance, but have since been moved to the other side of the complex this new ride.

I thought is was BOOLEAN.

Since whn was a helicopter involved.

What about some tiger snakes in enclosure? Maybe they could stick in a runway, and offer tiger moth joy flights.

The rides opening? or maybe they were plaques from the manufacturer with things like installation date, Serial Number, ect.

My thoughts exactly. If a ride has good seats and restrains it can really enhance the ride. but if they are bad they can ruin it. Take bountys at WL, its over tight restraints and unmoulded seats ruined the ride a bit. And anyway, when you are on the ride you cant see the motor properly anyway.